HISTORY of SUSSEX
Smuggling Days: Page 4
The Town Hall, halfway down the village street, is a relic of the defunct
Corporation of Pevensey. It was said to be the smallest Town Hall in the
kingdom. The upper part was the Court Room and the lower the lockup and
it was used for parish meetings.
The bridge at the end of the street is a picturesque feature of the village,
but it has gruesome associations. In the early Middle Ages, Pevensey possessed
the privilege, in common with other members of the Cinque Ports, of drowning
prisoners condemned of capital offences, and here, or what was then the
bridge, the sentence was carried out. In later years nothing more serious
took place than sheep-washing, which was an annual spring function. The
water below the bridge is locally known as Salt Haven, that above the bridge,
the Broad Haven.
Other landmarks of interest in Pevensey are the Castle, the outer part
Roman and the inner part Mediaeval ; and the Mint House, built 1342. In
the town of Steyning at the beginning of Gravel Walk, leading to Elm Grove
Lane, stands a queer little building which is known to all the old inhabitants
of Steyning as " Smugglers' House." It looks full of lurking quaintnesses,
and a small-paned window under the ridged roof looks over the Downs towards
Truleigh Hill. You feel that the candle which burnt in that window might
well have been a signal to a party of lusty Sussex smugglers bringing their
goods from a " landing " on the low-lying coast of Shoreharn.
It is told that William Cowerson, the leader of the South Gang of Smugglers,
lived here. He was suspected of treachery by his companions and was shot
by way of vengeance. He was buried in Steyning churchyard in 1832. The following
is inscribed on his tombstone :
Death with his dart did pierce my heart, When I was in my prime,
Grieve not for me my dearest friends, For it was God's appointed time,
Our life hangs by a single thread, Which soon is cut and we are dead ;
Therefore repent make no delay, For in my bloom I was called away.
The Martello Towers have many associations with the late smuggling period
; they begin at Eastbourne, and fringe the coast as far as Hastings. They
were erected under Pitt's administration, when a French invasion was expected.
Good old William Cobbett in his Rural Rides gave a description of them as
they appeared in 1823:'
" The Martello Towers, by God!' Oh Lord! To think that I should be
destined to behold these monuments of the wisdom of Pitt and Dindas and
Perceval! Good God! Here they are, piles of bricks in a circular form about
three hundred feet (guess) circumference at the base, about forty feet high,
and about one hundred and fifty feet circumference at the top. There is
a doorway about midway up in each, and each has two windows. Cannons were
to be fired from the top of these things, in order to defend the country
against the French Jacobins I".
There are details of one story of smuggled goods in the shop of a Brighton
tradesman in 1821. John George Bishop, Brighton's historian, tells the story
:
" Mr. Weston, formerly of Seddlescombe, near Hastings, carried on
the business of silk-mercer and lace-man in a shop where are now Nos. 18
and 19 North Street. The excellence of his stock excited the suspicion of
the Excise officers, who occasionally ' dropped in to have a look round.'
On one such occasion, after the officers had made a fruitless search, Mr.
Weston spread for them a bountiful luncheon, to which they were nothing
loth to partake.
The ' host ' chuckled to himself that he had ' done ' them again, when
the Commanding Officer, suddenly rising from the hospitable board, said,
' I think we'll look round once more before we go.' They did ; and the search
was fatal ! some goods being discovered upon which no duty had been paid,
and Mr. Weston was fined £120.
This, however, was a mere ' flea-bite ' to that in which he was subsequently
caught, when the whereabouts of his ' secret chamber,' was made known to
the Excise by, it was believed, a char-woman. Mr. Weston's kitchen extended
the whole width of the premises in the rear, and the fire-range was so contrived
as to draw out and in upon hidden wheels. Behind the range was the little
room in which the smuggled stock was kept snug and dry.
This time the Excise thought to ' break ' the delinquent ; imposing a
fine of no less than £10,000! Mr. Weston had, however, saved a few
' pieces ' ; added to which he had recently been the fortunate winner of
the ' Grand Prize ' in a lottery - and he paid it!
Such offences as Mr. Weston's were regarded by the public in those days
as very venial. The goods were ' run ' for Mr. Weston by the then fastest
cutter on the coast. Master Wren, of Brighton, owner; and taken from whence
they were landed in carts of the huckster type to a preconcerted place in
the vicinity of the shop, to await the signal that the way was clear."
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